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While all seemed quiet on the eastern front after this year’s West Beach Music Festival wrapped up its two-day bash at Chase Palm Park, it turns out brothers Joshua and Jeremy Pemberton — and their promotion company Twiin Productions, Inc. — took such a financial hit from the unprofitable concert that they were forced to file for bankruptcy today. But the bad news isn’t exclusive to the two young entrepreneurs: A number of vendors who haven’t been paid for services rendered are wondering if they’ll ever see the money they thought was coming to them.

The twins’ lawyer, former deputy district attorney Joshua Lynn, sent an email to local media late in the afternoon explaining Twiin Productions had filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy and would be closing its doors. The message blamed the City of Santa Barbara for throwing up so many “unprecedented and inconsistent governmental and bureaucratic obstacles” as the Pembertons planned for this year’s festival that it made it impossible for them to turn the profit necessary to keep their company afloat.

City staff worry such harsh language foreshadows a possible lawsuit, but Lynn said during a phone conversation that it’ll be up to the twins to take that next step. So far, he said, they haven’t evidenced a desire to do so. The decision to issue a press release, Lynn said, was to let people know exactly what’s going on considering the attention and ink the Pembertons have received over the past year. And Chapter 7 bankruptcy, he explained, is not about reorganization, but about liquidation and trying to get assets available in order pay off creditors.

Larry Mills (file)

2010 West Beach Music Festival

Throughout the months leading up to the 2010 concert, the twins consistently called out the city for unfairly raising facility fees, shortening payment deadlines, and making ludicrous demands. City staff countered that all the requirements they put forth were necessary to help keep this year’s event from becoming the overcrowded and noisy disaster it turned into last year.

By all accounts, September’s concert was void of the complaints and calls for police service that had plagued 2009’s show. However, it also lacked the lucrative crowds that had turned the 2009 West Beach Music Festival into the biggest such event Santa Barbara had ever seen: This year, at its height, attendance reached only around 3,000 on Saturday. On Friday, it barely peaked at 1,500. That’s in stark contrast to 2009’s three days of music during which upward of 10,000 party-goers swarmed West Beach each day.

The underwhelming turnout, coupled with the twins’ biggest financial backer ducking out right before show time, left them not only unable to make rent at their Chapala Street office but — more importantly — also unable to pay many of the vendors they used to get the festival off the ground. They reportedly tried to scrape together any last remaining cash they could, in an attempt to stave off some of their more demanding contractors, after spending more than $1 million putting on the concert. They also sold some of their office wares on Craigslist, but finally had to admit to people’s faces that they weren’t going to be paid.

A number of individuals had stopped by The Independent‘s offices in recent weeks with tales of frustration and woe, angry at the Pembertons for issuing false promises and bad checks. The city can’t help them, they said, as it’s not up to staff to help private citizens or companies recoup lost earnings. They’ve been advised to speak to attorneys to see what their options are. A number of the performing bands, luckier than the rest, had to hound the twins for their payments post-show, but were eventually made whole.

Paul Wellman (file)

Brothers Joshua and Jeremy Pemberton

The city, explained staff, had the foresight to demand cash upfront from the Pembertons. The city was paid in full and gave the brothers back their remaining security and facility deposits soon after things wrapped up. Neither of the twins could be reached for comment.

No one perhaps is more upset with the twins’ alleged transgressions than MarBorg’s Anthony Borgatello. The Pembertons, he said, owe his company almost $50,000, and they wronged the family in a personal and inexcusable way. According to Bortagello, he and his father, Mario, took the twins under their wing early on when Twiin Productions was first battling the city for the rights to an event permit.

Noticing that they were going about things all wrong — aggressively jostling city staff when they should have been gently massaging — Anthony and Mario tutored the twins in the ways of diplomacy. “It was obvious they were struggling,” said Borgatello, who explained he and his father had multiple sit-downs with the Pembertons to discuss these finer points.

Business-savvy as always, the Borgatellos knew that if the brothers could get along with the city and keep putting on large-scale events, MarBorg could keep signing lucrative contracts with Twiin Productions and provide their much-needed services, like carting in and installing portable restrooms, fencing, and light towers, as well as organizing trash and recycling pickups.

Not long after the twins and the Borgatellos started talking turkey, though, Anthony got a bad feeling about how smoothly things were actually going to go. “It was a frustrating process because it was an ever-swinging pendulum,” lamented Borgatello about fluctuating payment offers set forth by the twins. “We soon realized they weren’t as organized as they said they were.” MarBorg has worked events all over the South Coast and has never had such a hair-pulling experience, he said.

Larry Mills (file)

2010 West Beach Music Festival

With the Pembertons’ postdated checks in hand, MarBorg did what it could to make things happen. Staff dealt with the health inspector when there was a problem. More fences and lighting were brought in when, at the last minute, the brothers realized it was needed. Borgatello even went to the site himself to help with pump installation. “We went above and beyond the call of duty,” he said. While the precision of logistics left something to be desired, said Borgatello, he wasn’t too concerned about eventually getting paid, as events like the West Beach Festival — which make their money after ticket sales and beer garden tabs are totaled — don’t turn a profit until all is said and done.

But once he proceeded to process the twins’ checks, they bounced, said Borgatello. The brothers tried to schedule a meeting with him and his father, but they refused. “There was no need to meet,” said Borgatello. “We performed our services, now its time for you to perform yours,” he remembered thinking to himself. “We weren’t going to get suckered into a bunch more rhetoric.”

The Pembertons, Borgatello said, told him they’d send an email with an explanation. He never got one. They then offered property as payment: plywood leftover from paths that were never laid. Borgatello declined.

“There is no other way to describe this other than a huge slap in the face,” he said. “They promised so much to the city, bragged so much about their capabilities, and talked such a big game. The fact that they didn’t deliver on any of that says a lot about them and who they are,” Borgatello said. What burns him the most, he went on, is that so many people worked so hard to deliver on the twins’ promises and make them look good in the eyes of the city and the community at large, only to have their efforts go unrequited and uncompensated.

“The only best interest they had in mind were themselves,” Borgatello summed up, “and that’s sad.” There are reportedly a number of big-name vendors out there that similarly haven’t been paid but, as of press time, The Independent has not been able to verify those claims.

Lynn, though, continues to see the brothers as victims of a city hall that singled them out and unfairly made things so difficult that they were forced into these financial straights. “The central issue,” Lynn said Friday evening, “appears to be that Twiin Productions has been treated differently than other promoters.”

There is absolutely no reason for this disparate treatment, he went on, and the brothers should be commended — not punished — for bending over backward while complying with staff demands. “If this was a jazz festival, I don’t think we would be where we are,” he said. Lynn also stated that the West Beach Festival is a great revenue generator for the city and should be recognized as such. “Twiin Productions and the twins are dedicated to Santa Barbara and the community and simply want to put on great events,” he said.

Lynn explained he has not asked for payment for his legal services, saying, “I believe in Twiin Productions and the festival. I look forward to trying to work with the city and the twins to get things back on track.”

The twins fought for the right to lose their money. They agreed to the terms the city offered. They were so enamored with their idea that they did not seem to consider the reality of the current economic climate.

Twiin's lack of personal responsibility has transformed from annoying into comedy gold. It's a shame that so many local vendors will have to suffer as a result of their borderline-negligent incompetence.

As for the issue of "being treated differently than other promoters" - other promoters are probably competent business-people.

Lynn is working for free on this one? A "great revenue generator," huh? Tell that to Marborg and all the other angry local vendors who got shafted by Twiin Productions.

If the knucklehead Pembertons were as business-savvy and dedicated to the city as some seem to think, they would PAY the people who make the festival happen for them. Right now all this "revenue-generation" talk is sheer nonsense.

Gotta love the blame game. It always someone else's fault. Take responsibility, man up, and say you didn't know what you were getting into, mismanaged it and screwed up. A simple balance sheet would have worked. They gambled big time and lost....with other people's money. Just like developers. Bastards. I hope everyone lien'd em within 90 days...take everything they got...

This subject provided a good opportunity for readers to compare our local news outlets as they have all written an article on this in the past 2 days. I always find this interesting on TV as well; when a story breaks I like to flip between Fox, MSNBC, and CNN to compare the speed and accuracy of the coverage.

Objectively I have to say the Indy nailed the article, beating everyone not only in # of words but depth as well.

Spacey.That was the owner of the Sea Cove who organized those Jazz Festivals in the mid 90's. You're right. It didn't last long. However, he did it for the love of the music. He knew he'd never make a lot of money.

Seems like the City is somewhat responsible. Due to the City's ridiculous requirements it was always a question if the event was even going to happen. As a consumer I lost interest and obviously thousands of others did, too. Bands backed out, venues changed, etc. Hey, but at least the City got their cash up front! It is too bad that all these local government entities are so worried about generating fees that they fail to fulfill their mission.

I hope the Twins land on their feet and the local vendors get paid. The City put a choke hold on the event and it was destined to fail. The crazy part is that by the time the Twins should have decided to cancel the event I'm sure all the fees paid to the City were non-refundable. What a joke.

Who do these Twiins think they are that they can just come in here and offer entertainment and services to the community and make a profit?! Thanks to the city for stepping in and making it so difficult for them to offer their services that they can't make any money!

That seems to be how most business operates these days. Tax and regulate everything so much it becomes impossible for your average joe to make an honest living.. Who wins?? The big corporations and the Recording Industrial Complex wins because they are the ones with the lobbyists to write and pass regulations that already fit THEIR particular business model.

Only Twiin Productions is to blame for their business failings. It had nothing to do with the City. They owed people from 2008 and 2009 and the fact that they wanted to do another year just points to the fact that they didn't have a good business plan.

They did receive "special" treatment from the City. In fact - the city suspended all large events but it was only at the last minute when Councilmember Williams (who got a campaign contribution no doubt) asked the Council to allow for special circumstances to allow Twiin to be able to hold the festival - on East Beach. They are lucky they were allowed to move forward at all. Other groups requesting permits were flat out denied. Again - though - the Twiins are responsible for their own failings.

Sad to see Lynn stoop so low to represent these two. Proves the voters selected the right candidate for District Attorney. This proves he has no business representing SB.

Twiins were inexperienced amateurs who got in way over their heads and dragged a bunch of others underwater with them. No basis for a lawsuit or even sympathy for these two.

Still, I wish the city big enchiladas would pursue policies of enforcing rules and ordinances on the nasty panhandlers and the obnoxious homeless (as opposed to the unobtrusive simply homeless) as strictly as they did with the twiins.

I'm all for more live music in SB, however for some reason, the Pembertons couldn't recognize that this event was set up for failure. You can't properly promote a concert if you aren't even guaranteed the venue until a couple of weeks before the show date.

With naive overconfidence and lack of attention to reality, the twins made promises were impossible to deliver. Now locals are suffering the consequences. I am surprised that smart business people like the Borgatellos didn't see this coming.

Who is ultimately responsible for the mess? Obviously, the twins should have had the sense to step away from this totally flawed undertaking and lay better plans for a future concert. This wasn't some business school training seminar, this was a real event with real consequences for all involved. Sure, the city didn't make it easy for them, but the responsibility for judging the viability of the event is on the shoulders of the promoters.

The end result should be a lesson to all who do business with the City of Santa Barbara, when the City start throwing roadblocks up, better dig deep for "Seed Money" to make the roadblocks go away, otherwise you won't make a dime off you project!

Anyone else still waiting for a ticket refund? This is totally ridiculous. It's been 4 months of nagging and calling, an unsigned check, and "oh it's in the mail"s...anyone else still waiting on a refund on tickets?